the blog of hasbean coffee

So Yesterday was meant to be a day where I was visiting two farms we buy coffee from, one called La Perla, and the other El Bosque (where I’ve been before).

To get to La Perla you need to fly in or take a two day truck and mule Journey (I’m not so good on the back of a donkey) or fly in on light aeroplane. So a light aeroplane was arranged but due to the rain and low cloud we were not able to go out. As much as I tried to hide it, Christian who has been my fixer on this trip could see how disappointed I was, so arranged for me to meet two of the three brothers who own La Perla Ricardo and Enrique Arenas at there offices at Guatemala City.

We talked what seems like for minutes but worked out to be a couple of hours. Both brothers we so engaging and friendly and generous with there thoughts and time and I was made to feel so welcome. I managed to get some video of it, which I’ll edit down once I’m back in the UK and share with you.

The afternoon was spent back at El Bosque a farm I visited two years ago virtually to the date on my first trip to Guatemala. Francisco the one brother who was there, was amazing, we went up to the farm and recorded some more video (the amount of editing I have to do is scaring me), which is gold dust stuff. Francisco Flores is a natural in front of the camera and put me to shame. The smell of the farm just blows me away, and being amongst the trees such a special time for me.

I also did some video on the drying patios, but it was rush hour and now you will all see what I mean about the main road being close to the patios. I hope I can rescue the filming here.
We were going to make another attempt at La Perla this (Friday) morning on the plane, but the weather drew in again and there was no chance. This is really sad, as I love visiting farms but I also didn’t want to get out there and the weather draw in again and be trapped for days.
On to Friday, and the first thing this morning I had a really interesting meeting with a guy called Rick Carrey (again more video and I think you will really enjoy this one) who is working together with Ricardo and Enrique on a new project called Coffee Dreams Foundation. This is something you will hear a lot more about over the coming months.

And then the rest of the morning at Anacafe and got to see some good friends from all around the world there who I’ve met on my travels. I also got a chance to buy some new Anacafe cups (more for In My Mug) and some coffee books I’ve not seen before.